Gilmore Girls is one of my comfort shows that I watch yearly. So when The Third Gilmore Girl by Kelly Bishop came out, I knew I wanted to read it. Her story is beautiful as she shares so much of her experience as an actress over the last six decades. We also get a glimpse of her personal life and how she’s helped fight for women’s rights. You get a bit of Emily and Kelly in this memoir and it’s lovely to get a sneak peek into someone’s life who you’ve watched on screen for many years.

LOVED this! As a diehard Gilmore Girls fan, it was interesting to learn about Kelly Bishop and her past history before Gilmore Girls.

my first time seeing kelly bishop on screen was when i was around four or five years old and i started to take an interest in whatever my mother was watching at the time. this included many things that were far too grown up for someone that young to be gazing at but i grew up fast due to life circumstances (i think that accounted to a number of problems and flaws in my life but whatever) and i always wanted to be just another adult in the room.

so, i started paying attention when my mom probably thought i was just playing with my barbies and it's somewhere in one of those moments that i remember seeing gilmore girls for the first time. i distinctly remember seeing the opening credits and hearing that catchy ass theme song. and then, shorty after, my mother tuned in to one of her favorite movies of all time called dirty dancing and i remember exclaiming that the mother in the movie was the same lady that was in gilmore girls. my mother looked at me with this spooked expression like she knew she fucked up in some major way but all she did was reassure me that it was the same lady, that i should focus on my toys instead of her things, and she went back to watching.

i never stopped watching. gilmore girls grew into something of a nostalgic, comfort blanket for me. dirty dancing is a film i've watched numerous times and have a great respect for it, although i lack the endless admiration my mother carries for it.

this book, however, brought kelly bishop to life for me. decades of seeing her represented on my television screen lead to me reading this book and feeling like she was seated beside me the whole time, telling me her life story.

and it's such an exciting one. this woman has lived such a remarkable and challenging life. from starting out as a ballet dancer dreaming of becoming someone great to changing fields and creating an acting career out of thin air. i didn't know anything about her heading into this and came out of it with a newfound respect in the way she always overcame the unimaginable, even up until her dear husband died a few years back. she's incredible and i thought this was fantastic and everything she wrote about Edward Herman had me sobbing uncontrollably. i hope i can love and live life as passionately as she does.

read if you are a massive gilmore girls fan!!

Oh my goodness I loved this book. I'm not a huge biography person but Kelly Bishop made it happen. I've been obsessed with Gilmore Girls since the show first came out and I loved learning these behind the scenes insights to Bishop's background and career.

As a diehard gilmores girl fan I was so excited to get this book, Kelly Bishop is an amazing lady! She had done so many interesting things and I'm so happy I got to read this!

I don't think I've ever read a memoir before. I really loved that it was narrated by Kelly herself. It being The Thrid Gilmore I thought it would be a little more focused on Gilmore Girls but it was still very good.

I think I resonate with Kelly a lot and it just makes Gilmore Girls all the more special to me. Specifically Kelly's life experience and opinions on being child free and owning a ton of animals lol.

As a longtime fan of Gilmore Girls, Kelly Bishop's The Third Gilmore is an absolute delight. Once I started reading, I couldn't put it down.

“The Third Gilmore Girl” was as such a fun, easy read! I knew very little about Kelly Bishops career before Gilmore Girls and wow, what a life she has lived! I especially enjoyed the inside look into her life on Broadway.

There isn’t a ton of content from her time on Gilmore Girls, but I think if you go in knowing that then it’s still a really enjoyable read!

Thank you to Netgalley and Gallery Books for the eARC of this book.

I didn't start watching Gilmore Girls until I was in college, probably because I was only eight or nine years old when the show first aired and I couldn't really relate to an MC in high school at the time. However, I have now seen the entire series at least three times, and while I may not be a super fan, I do love it. It's an ultimate comfort series.

I didn't know anything about Bishop's life outside of her role as matriarch Emily Gilmore in Gilmore Girls. I was surprised by her lengthy broadway and dancing career, even though I do recall Emily and Richard dancing quite a bit on the show. I saw reviews that said the Gilmore Girls portion of the book wasn't nearly long enough, but I enjoyed it and thought there were quite a few insights that we as readers may have never known otherwise.

It was difficult to read about her relationships and marriages and the patterns in each of them that she either didn't see or chose to ignore. A lot of that content felt repetitive because, in a way, it was. And there were times when I was begging Bishop to see the signs, which, of course, didn't happen.

The writing was a bit pretentious and the chapters were much longer than I'd have preferred, which took me out of the book a few times, but I admire Bishop's tenacity, strength, and her outspoken and unapologetic nature.

Thank you to NetGalley, Simon & Schuster Canada, and Gallery Books for the e-ARC of this book in exchange for my review.

i just love her ok??? it was so refreshing to hear of kelly's life, especially how she broke into show business and went on to win tony awards for her work. plus the gilmore girls sections were a delight. highly recommend!

I love Kelly Bishop. This was such a fabulous memoir. I laughed and cried (for Ed and Lee) along with her, and learned a lot of things I didn’t already know. If you liked Gilmore Girls and the force that was Emily, you’ll absolutely enjoy the back half of this memoir, but I also think you’ll enjoy the rest of it. Kelly’s had an incredible life, one thanks brought joy to so many others. I’m so glad I had the chance to read this.

This biography has been on my to-read list for most of 2024 and I am incredibly grateful that I was able to read it early. Kelly Bishop has been one of my favourite actresses for decades- I watched Gilmore Girls as it aired and I always had a soft-spot for Emily, I was thrilled to see that she was releasing memoirs. Given her connections with the arts and how many of us know and love her, I wanted to share this here.
It is a chronological memoir, so we start with her childhood and ballet training and then move quickly into her Broadway career (which is fairly lengthy). We then moved into Gilmore Girls and her television acting career, intermingled with her personal life.
I have to say, this book was too short for me- I loved it, and I would have happily read twice the amount of pages. Bishop’s insights into Broadway in the 1970s are fascinating, and her work in A Chorus Line deserves so much more attention! She also offered a lot of insights into Gilmore Girls, which I think is the main reason many will read the book. It’s not gossipy, she’s not sharing people’s deep dark secrets but you do get a deeper appreciation for the show, especially the brilliant Ed Herrmann. There are some tough sections to read, but it is so worth it!

Loved it. Ans Kelly's take on her life. I was expecting a bit more Gilmore girls but it was still amazing. I really enjoyed getting to know her and her life

I really knew nothing about Kelly Bishop when I requested this book. Sure, she was in Gilmore Girls but my knowledge of her stopped there.

This book felt like meeting a friend of a friend. Someone you’ve heard of but never actually met - and when you do - you just click!

I sat with Kelly, drinking a coffee while she told me her story & it was a privilege. She took me through all sorts of life events. Lessons she’s learned. People she met along the way. She shared her friendships, unbreakable bonds & heartache. She welcomed me into her world and I walked away thinking “I knew I’d like her!”

This was a fantastic book for both fans of Gilmore Girls & for those who enjoy a really great memoir.

Thank you NetGalley & Simon & Schuster Canada for the opportunity to read this book for my honest review.

I loved reading this book! I had no idea that Kelly Bishop lived such an incredibly interesting life and this book really opened my eyes to see how hard she worked to get to where she is today.

I thought that the way the book flowed through the different stages of her life in a chronological order was so lovely (my brain appreciated the order so so much) and it was such a neat thing to be able to see her career grow and skyrocket throughout the years.

Kelly tells it like it is, so don't expect this book to be light and fluffy because it is a raw, emotional, hard truth kind of book and it made me like her all the more. She will always be Emily Gilmore to me, but knowing now how full her career was made me appreciate the hard work she put into the character and portrayal of Emily.

If you love Emily from Gilmore Girls, you will likely enjoy this book, however don't go into the book expecting it to primarily be about her filming the show, because that is not what this book was - it was so much more!

I have a new love for Kelly Bishop. I learned so much about her life and experience in reading this book, which I originally wanted to read simply for her role as Emily Gilmore. But learning about her life and her earlier, fantastic career on the stage made me even more appreciate her talent and stardom. It was well-written, and the timeline and chunks of each major time in her career were well-spaced. I recommend this and will now check out her other roles. I will rewatch Gilmore Girls from a different lens, knowing what went into the portrayal of Emily.

i would quite literally listen to Emily Gilmore read the phone book. it was so fun to learn some behind the scenes gilmore girls info, but also more about her life pre and post show.

I am a huge fan of Gilmore Girls and of Kelly Bishop, so I was so excited to read her memoir. Her wit, passion, and flair shines through in this memoir.
This book was sharp, snappy, and to the point. A fast and enjoyable read all the way through.
The perfect read to pair with your fall re-watch or Gilmore Girls.

Title: The Third Gilmore Girl
Author: Kelly Bishop
Genre: Memoir
Rating: 3.75
Pub Date: September 17, 2024

I received a complimentary eARC from Simon & Schuster Canada via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. #Gifted

T H R E E • W O R D S

Conversational • Unapologetic • Interesting

📖 S Y N O P S I S

Kelly Bishop’s long, storied career has been defined by landmark achievements, from winning a Tony Award for her turn in the original Broadway cast of A Chorus Line to her memorable performance as Jennifer Grey’s mother in Dirty Dancing. But it is probably her iconic role as matriarch Emily in the modern classic Gilmore Girls that cemented her legacy.

She shares some of her greatest stories and the life lessons she’s learned on her journey. From her early transition from dance to drama, to marrying young to a compulsive gambler, to the losses and achievements she experienced—among them marching for women’s rights and losing her second husband to cancer—Bishop offers a rich, genuine celebration of her life.

💭 T H O U G H T S

Kelly Bishop is most famously known for her role as Emily Gilmore on the TV show Gilmore Girls. As a fan of the show for many years, I was interested in reading her memoir, The Third Gilmore Girl, not only to get a piece of nostalgia, but also to get to know her beyond the show.

Told pretty much in chronological order, Kelly covers the different stages of her life in a candid and direct manner. She tells it like it is and it's obvious she is sure of herself and the life she has lived so far. I was interested in learning about her life as a trained dancer and surprised to find out she got her start as a dancer as opposed to in acting. The inclusion of photographs is always an added bonus when reading a memoir, and that's no different here.

I'll admit that I was disappointed there is so little focus on her time on Gilmore Girls. It takes two thirds of the book to get there, and once we do it felt glossed over. I understand it was a small part of her life, but when you title your memoir The Third Gilmore Girl to me your acknowledging how big a part of your life it was. Yet, here it felt like a marketing plot to get readers to pick up the book.

The Third Gilmore is an interesting memoir that opened my eyes to Kelly Bishop beyond Gilmore Girls. It was eerie how her own personal life mirrored Emily's in so many different ways. There easily could have been more to her story, yet I believe she kept it concise because that is simply the type of person she is.

📚 R E A D • I F • Y O U • L I K E
• Gilmore Girls
• celebrity memoirs
• dance/theatre

⚠️ CW: addiction, alcoholism, death, death of partner, death of parent, cancer, terminal illness, grief, cursing, infidelity, abortion, domestic abuse, toxic relationship, drug use

“I strongly believe that there’s a satisfying field, a job, a career for everyone- it’s just a matter of finding it, and the best way to do that is to head in the direction of what you love, whether it’s the performing arts, or flower arranging, or farming, or plumbing, or whatever. Aren’t we lucky that there’s such a wide variety of dreams to choose from, and so many people who choose them?”

i fell in love with kelly bishop as emily gilmore when i first watched ‘gilmore girls’ my first year of college. the show brought me a lot of comfort at a time where everything in my life was changing. this show and these characters were consistent.

emily gilmore is a character people either love or hate. i loved her. i appreciated her strength to voice her concerns/wants, felt sympathy for her and the lack of relationship she had with her daughter, cried with her over the loss of her husband.
kelly bishop made an unlikeable (at the start) character, one you found yourself rooting for.

this book got me out of a two week reading slump which i’m incredibly grateful for. i loved this book so very much. now if anybody needs me, i will be binge watching Gilmore Girls once again!

Thank you to Simon and Schuster and netgalley for an e-arc of this book